Professor vs Writer/Philosopher -- advice needed

[darkw0rker]

Hello everyone,

I have a purpose in life. I want to be a philosopher; but what I don't want to become a professor of philosophy.

I am highly solitary and I don't think that I enjoy teaching. I am very inexperienced, 18 years old, and have no real interest in making money except meeting my basic needs. But my question is:

Is there any way I can make a living as a professional philosopher without being a professor?

I'm pretty sure that writers don't all become English professors. How do they make a living when they don't have their books out?

[Dreamline]

Write more books...

Lecture on the speaking tour. Consult for people, other people's books. Corporations. Research. Put out CD/DVD how to programs. Preach.

Jennifer

[Brutha]

What do you mean with the term professional philosopher?
Do you consider Ayn Rand to be one?
Robert M. Pirsig?
Nassim Taleb?

[dwixi]

Originally Posted by darkw0rker

Hello everyone,

I have a purpose in life. I want to be a philosopher; but what I don't want to become a professor of philosophy.

I am highly solitary and I don't think that I enjoy teaching. I am very inexperienced, 18 years old, and have no real interest in making money except meeting my basic needs. But my question is:

Is there any way I can make a living as a professional philosopher without being a professor?

I'm pretty sure that writers don't all become English professors. How do they make a living when they don't have their books out?

surely its like anything? It just depends completely on your situation.

If you end up writing a best selling book at an early age then you wouldnt have to worry about it.

You might get a job writing for a magazine or blog on philosophy. But you might not.

You really don't know what situations you will find. Or how successful you will be with them.

[Somi]

Hi I wanted to exactly what you want to do, so I started making my own creative way into it. Have a look at my website and you will find out. But lots of hard work is needed, you have to get creative.

[wolfgang]

I think philosophizing could be channeled into art work of any kind. Then sell the art.

Lots of songs' lyrics, for example, have a philosophical message - and even when they don't there is a way to take it that way.

Become a poet or song writer that carries philosophical ramblings.

[Somi]

Wolfgang is right, I also have a music band and write the lyrics for it.

[wolfgang]

coolness... I often think that philosophical ideas need to be expressed through art instead of just logic and reasoning and wordy theories.

[Arboretor]

Become a funeral speaker. Seriously. There is demand for that, from people who don't like to have a minister speak at the funeral, but still want to hear some philosophical words.

[alainplus]

So many people go into the humanities. It's like you're asking to be poor for the rest of your life. Such a big waste of money too if you're going to college.

There's serious philosophy, which will most likely be ignored if you're not in academia. There's popular philosophy, which is basically boiling down serious philosophy into unseriousy philosophy (see Alain de Botton).

I'm not seeing a lot of prospect in it as a lot of people already do both of those. Now I'm not saying you're going to fail, as your success is determined primarily by your own efforts not my silly predictions. But I'd advice finding new ways for your philosophical thinking to be brought to the masses (other than writing). Find a new niche to exploit basically.

Movie directing
Animation (manga, comic books)
Graphic design
Advertising
Music videos
Politics
Non profit organizations


Of course in these arenas you would be dealing primarily with political, social, and aesthetic philosophy, not ontology so you'll see yourself encoutering people like McLuhan and Baudrillard more than say... Kant.

But think hard of the different ways to practice philosophy before you settle on writing.

[evacorges]

there are even philosophers who are life coaches, drawing on their knowledge of the great thinkers to advise people.

[Somi]

Originally Posted by alainplus

Music videos
Politics
Non profit organizations

These are also the stuff that I'm in the process of developing. You have to find a new way to communicate your philosophical thinking with people and of course you don't have dismiss ontology, that always impacts your other discussions indirectly, at the very least.

[Johnny Soporno]

Originally Posted by darkw0rker

Hello everyone,

I have a purpose in life. I want to be a philosopher; but what I don't want to become a professor of philosophy....
Is there any way I can make a living as a professional philosopher without being a professor?

I suppose my first question would be, have you developed your own fundamental philosophy; are you amalgamating segments of other established philosophies to create one of your own; or have you accepted an established-but-alternative philosophy, and wish to help others to accept it also?

In other words, are you developing something that will need to be demonstrated (in thought experiments, at least) to be understood & accepted by others, as in the first two cases, or will you have some measure of public mindshare when you begin?

If you are attempting to make accessible (or 'rehashing') established philosophies (e.g. Alan Watts, Eckhart Tolle, or Leonard Peikoff) then you'll already have a potential market for yourself on the lecturing circuit. To get started, look for online forums dedicated to that philosophy, and begin establishing a name for yourself as an effective critical-thinker amongst your market. Eventually you'll want to publish books on the methods you have developed for reframing peoples' reality, and the metaphors which best communicate your message.

If, like myself, you've developed a fundamentally distinct replacement philosophical model, you'll need to demonstrate it, both through living accordingly, and through metaphorical examples. Here's where being a good writer is critical, because you'll likely need to write more than just a guide on 'How to Live', but also fabricate some believable characters, set them in an analogous environment, and provide them with realistic parables and situations which help the reader to harmonize along with your rationale. (e.g. Orson Scott Card, Robert A. Heinlein, Ayn Rand, and L. Ron Hubbard)

As Evacorges suggested, 'life coaching' is an excellent way to earn a living while ensuring you have sufficient real-life experiences (your own, and those of your clients) to massage into a readable presentation to fit within your book(s). It does, however, generally require a degree of credibility which is hard to establish in your teens.

If your messages can be communicated and are accessible to a sufficient segment of the public through your music, you might be able to jumpstart your career that way (e.g. Jello Biafra, Henry Rollins, Chuck D.)

I personally earn most of my living through directly coaching individuals and small groups on overcoming sociological mal-programming, dealing with key relationship issues, proactive expectation management, experiencing and maintaining ongoing happiness, and purging undeserved and inappropriate guilt, shame, and embarrassment which inhibit their opportunities for successfulness.

In order to establish myself, I 'piggybacked' on the freshly burgeoning "Seduction Community's" coattails, by aggressively campaigning against the misogynistic backlash commonly called 'Pick Up Artists', and gathered widespread recognition amongst both that communities' disenfranchised failures, AND its most monumental "successes".

Now I am actively attempting to broaden the scope of my potential audience, by altering (slightly) my presentations into more of a 'stand-up comedy' format, which I am hopeful will allow me to reach a fantastically greater portion of the public. (This had been highly effective throughout history, with such notables as Bill Hicks, Chris Rock, and George Carlin.)

Personal plug moment: A link to my freely downloadable seminar videos, which are REALLY radical, only slightly contentious, and pretty-damned entertaining, (if I say so myself ) is in my signature at the end of this message. While this seminar is tailored towards 'The Seduction Community', its contents apply across-the-board, and I encourage everyone to check 'em out.

Best of luck with your career choice, DW... It's doable, but often a long, slow haul!

Johnny Soporno
Worthy Playboy